Sustainability. This was the word that I was hearing repeated over and over at this years NAIAS (North American International Auto Show) in Detroit, Michigan. The official definition of sustainability is the capacity to endure. It’s used to describe how biological systems remain productive over time. In this context, it was used to describe the future of the automobile industry, to not only remain competitive, but looking to the future of diminishing energy sources and the search for more sustainable “green” sources of energy.
When it came to an overall attention and focus on future sustainability and green living, regardless of who paid for the trip, Ford stood out from the rest of the crowd, especially among the American auto makers. I wasn’t alone in this line of thinking. When it comes to green living, no one knows it better than the green living guy himself, Seth Leitman, of greenlivingguy.com;
“Ford Motor Co has done a lot of work to be blogger inclusive in their efforts to communicate their message worldwide. That was a great thing since social media is exploding worldwide. They also are offering the eco boost, hybrid, plug-in hybrid and pure electric cars for the public.
“However, the eco boost is an option rather than a standard and they are only offering one EV rather than offering all models as electric. From my interview with Bill Ford at the auto show, it seemed that once demand picks up, they will expand their electric drive portfolio of cars. The one thing that was overlooked at the event which Ford should be commended on was that since 2003 they saved over 22 trillion btu in manufacturing energy consumption. That efficiency has led to at least tens of millions of dollars in energy costs worldwide.”
